In the game of bowling, accurate approach to the foul line and precise delivery of the ball generally require that the bowler have the ability to control the slide action and the traction action of each foot independently according to individual bowling style and surface conditions of the bowling lane, among other variables. Several attempts have been made to construct bowling shoes with specific designs to the sole, including the toe and/or the heel, to give this element of control according to the individual bowler's preference. Typically, a pair of bowling shoes may include a slide shoe for slide action with a sole of a material with a low coefficient of friction, for example, leather, and a traction shoe for good traction with a sole of a material with a high coefficient of friction., for example, rubber. The traction shoe sole conventionally may have a wear tip at the front of the sole, which may have a low coefficient of friction surface (i.e., a slippery surface) or a high coefficient of friction surface (i.e., a traction surface), according to a bowler's preference, bowling style, and right- or left-handedness. On such a conventional bowling shoe, the sole bottom area covered by the wear tip may become worn with extended use. The worn area typically may include the front edge of the sole and the adjacent shoe upper. The wear may usually arise from two conditions. At the beginning of the approach to the foul line, some bowlers may push off by rolling the traction shoe up onto the toe, sometimes even exaggerating the push off, so that the upper part of the traction shoe may roll up onto the lane surface. Bowlers with this style of approach may generally prefer to have a shoe tip with a high coefficient of friction traction material, such as rubber. Other bowlers, at the end of the approach to the foul line, may slide the traction shoe behind, while sliding forward on the slide shoe. Such bowlers may generally prefer to have a shoe tip with a low coefficient of friction slippery material, such as leather.
Coles, U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,077, issued Jun. 27, 1972, is directed to a shoe which has removable cleats attached to apertures in the sole. Each of the cleats may have a different coefficient of friction, so that by selecting specific cleats, it is said that the bowler may obtain the desired low or high traction characteristics for the sole.
Taylor, U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,664, issued Jan. 5, 1988, describes a bowling shoe which has a specially designed heel and sole surface. The shoe worn on the bowler's sliding foot has a generally U-shaped heel with different outer and inner bottom surfaces. The outer bottom heel surface has a relatively high coefficient of friction as compared to the inner heel surface. The shoe for the non-sliding foot has a sole with a higher coefficient of friction and a conventional uniform heel surface.
Famolare, U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,198, issued Aug. 6, 1996, relates to a bowling shoe, in which the shoe sole has a replaceable slide area on the tread surface. The slide area extends from the toe end of the shoe sole to about the arch portion and extends across the width of the tread surface. The shoe construction includes a removable slide pad which has a peripheral margin about equal to the peripheral margin of the slide area on the tread surface. Mating faces of the slide pad and the tread surface are removably secured to each other by hook and loop fastener material. The heel also has selectively replaceable heels, to provide a desired coefficient of friction to the heel.
Although these and other shoe constructions have been proposed and are currently available, none of them provide all of the advantages of the present invention, including, among other features described herein, selectability of the coefficient of friction of the sole surface and additional protection of the shoe upper adjacent the front sole surface.